First of all, if you have kids, take them on a Disney Cruise. You will NOT regret it. It was a magical wonderland for me as a child, and I can't thank my parents enough for organizing this trip for us. Cruises are always great, but add Disney characters all over the ship, and it's pure bliss. Even adults enjoy these cruises. They are a bit pricey but totally worth it.
Boat life was great. You can barely feel cruise ships moving, since they sail pretty slowly and are so big and stable. And there were so many fun things to do on the ship! I remember one day, I got corn rows in my hair, and it was the neatest thing. There was even a daycare, where my sister went when my parents and I wanted some time without little kids. (Haha, I was 10 years old!) My sister loved the daycare. She even got her face painted there. There were certain times when Disney characters would show up, and we got to meet them and get them to sign our autograph books.
We had the absolute best dinners on the ship, and while it's wasteful, you can order whatever you want on cruise ships. If you don't like what you ordered, they'll send out a different plate for you. I don't know how every ship operates, but on this ship, we were assigned a few servers for our breakfast, lunch, and dinner meals. They made the trip so special for us. I remember one of them had red hair and joked around that he liked to eat mayonnaise on his ice cream. My sister and I were disgusted, but he was so funny. Another one's name was Antonio, and he was from a Spanish-speaking country, although I don't remember where. And then our favorite server was from Jamaica, and boy, was he the friendliest guy you'd ever meet. They made our trip so special during meal time, and they were so good with us kids.
Now here comes the hard part. I don't remember too terribly much about the stops we made. I know we went to Cozumel first. We mostly hung out on the beach, but we did a few other things too. I remember my dad found a coconut on the beach, and it's not every day you see a coconut where I'm from, so he took it with him and tried to take it back on the ship. However, customs officials on the ship would not allow foreign fruit to be taken from Mexico to the U.S. for health reasons, so it was a no-go on the coconut. My dad is weird. Anyway, I remember we signed up to go swimming with dolphins, and it turned out to be the most awful thing. The dolphins were not free-swimming. They were in tiny cages in the water, and they were bruised and scratched from trying to break out of the cages. All we got to do was get in the cage with a bunch of other people and stand up against the back of the cage on a ledge until the dolphin trainer brought the dolphins over to us, so that we could, one by one, kiss the dolphin. That was it. There was no swimming with the dolphins, and the poor beasts were in the worst conditions. So I wouldn't recommend swimming with dolphins, unless they are wild dolphins. That can be risky, as you're out in the ocean around wild animals, but it is much better than fueling such a terrible industry such as this one. Anyway, on a lighter note, Cozumel is more like a tourist town, so it's not a place to go if you want culture. Everyone there speaks English, and the town is all about shopping and lying on the beach. However, I don't know of any cultural cities that you can visit on cruise ships. Who knows what you'll find in your research?
The next stop was The Grand Cayman Islands. The only thing I (sort of) remember about this place is that my family and I went on a submarine ride! I don't remember much about it, but if you can ride a submarine at an island, I'm game. The last stop was Key West, which is an island owned by Florida. I remember literally nothing about this island, but I'm sure it's lovely. It's probably just another beach location. We've all been to plenty of those.
Anyway, the real point of this trip is the Disney Cruise part of it all. If you have kids, or even if you don't, this is a great idea and is something a bit different than going to regular old Disney World for the 5th year in a row. Have fun on your trip!
The whole Disney crew waving goodbye at the end of the trip.
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